Ship2B Ventures, EIF and Banco Sabadell back the largest impact venture capital fund for startups in Spain

Ship2B Ventures, a venture capital management firm specialized in impact investing based in Barcelona, together with the European Union and European Investment Fund (EIF), under the EFSI Equity social impact pilot, and Banco Sabadell back the launch of the BSocial Impact Fund, an impact venture capital fund that already reached EUR 38 million in its second closing and aims to exceed EUR 45 million.

The new fund will be the largest impact venture capital fund for startups in Spain and it will focus on seed and early-stage social enterprises, targeting startups that aim to tackle three major challenges: improve the quality of life of vulnerable groups (e.g. the elderly, people with disabilities or with chronic illness), fight climate change and eradicate education skill gaps. With this transaction, the European Union and the EIF support social entrepreneurship and social impact investors, aiming to develop and scale up the Eropean social impact ecosystem.

The fund is also supported by other institutional investors such as AXIS-venture capital subsidiary of Grupo ICO-, Repsol Impacto Social and Fundación Anesvad, by leading families such as Puig, Elias, Castelló, Knuth, Pont, Ângela Impact Economy as well as by successful entrepreneurs such as the founders of Holaluz, Privalia, Socialpoint, SocialCar, Trovit, Cooltra and Glovo.

Maite Fibla y Xavier Pont, co-founders and managing partners of Ship2B Ventures, stated: “The attractiveness of the fund's investment thesis among investors and institutions has pushed us near the EUR 40 million in our second closing. Looking at our commitments pipeline, we estimate a final closing above EUR 45 million”. “In the coming years we will invest in 20 highly innovative startups with extraordinary teams that respond to our challenges while providing strong financial returns for our investors.”

Alain Godard, EIF Chief Executive, also added: “We are proud to continue supporting one of the most recognised impact actors in the Spanish ecosystem to consolidate their social impact activity and continue playing a key role in developing the market. EIF´s collaboration since 2016 has proven fundamental for the General Partners to develop their investing activities; which together with the Foundation’s accelerator programmes, provide a value-added proposition for social entrepreneurs in the first stages of development. The fund´s three main challenges address three key priorities for the EIF.”

Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis, said: “Thanks to the support of the Investment Plan and of the European Investment Fund, the Spanish BSocial impact fund will invest in early-stage social businesses. The new fund will be the largest impact venture capital fund for startups in Spain and address some of the main challenges of our times: increasing the quality of life for vulnerable people, mitigating the effects of climate change, and improving access to education for all.”

Raúl Rodríguez, director of BS Capital, added “impact investing is key for the future. Sabadell and its Foundation have a close relationship with Ship2B, so we were eager to be part of the BSocial Impact Fund and seek a social return through its investments. We decided to become an anchor investor and sponsor it from the very beginning.”

Leading investors, entrepreneurs and experts join Ship2B Ventures

Ship2B Ventures was founded by Maite Fibla and Xavier Pont and has a team of five professionals with expertise in investments, social and environmental impact, and health. Daniel Sánchez, partner of Nauta Capital, will be the non-executive chairperson of Ship2B Ventures. Further support will be provided by renowned experts from the venture capital industry such as Lluís Seguí (Miura Private Equity), Carles Florensa (Business Angel), and Cristina Marsal (Sandman Capital); leading entrepreneurs such as José Manuel Villanueva and Lucas Carné (Privalia), Carlota Pi, Oriol Vila and Ferran Nogué (Holaluz), Iñaki Ecenarro (Trovit), Horacio Martos and Andrés Bou (Social Point), Oscar Pierre (Glovo), Mar Alarcon and Francesc Queralt (Social Car), and Timo Buetefisch (Cooltra); and leading sectorial experts such as Jaime del Barrio (EY and Asociación de Salud Digital), Consuelo Crespo (UNICEF España y Oxfam), Concha Oliu (BStartup), and Ainhoa Grandes and Clara Navarro (Ship2B Foundation).

The team has been investing in social and environmental impact startups for more than eight years through the Ship2B Foundation. It manages two investment vehicles, Impact Equity BF, and Equity4Good, which are co-invested by the European Investment Fund with Impact Equity BF. The total AUM of these investment vehicles is 4.5 million euros, invested across 23 impact startups such as Qida, Psious, ADmit Therapeutics and Fiction Express. The firm has already executed its first exit (Koiki).